Friday Exercise: Brains

The Amazing Stickie has amazing abdominals.  She also has amazing brains.  She needs both to do this exercise, which, around here, is known as Brains.  It may have a real name, but she and I do not know it. 

To begin, Stickie lies on the floor.  Sadly, this is not the end of the exercise.  She has an exercise ball with her.  She holds it between her hands and her feet, both arms and legs sticking up into the air.  Then she lowers her right arm and left leg toward the floor, keeping the ball up with her left arm and right leg.  She does not let her arm and leg touch the floor because that would be cheating.  She lifts them back up into the air and uses them to stabilize the exercise ball.  She repeats the process, this time lowering her left arm and right leg toward the floor.

Many people are tempted to move the left arm and left leg together and the right arm and right leg together.  This is both harder and less effective.  Plugging into the brain to get the motion right is one of the challenges of this exercise.  Stickie finds that it helps to get set on one side and then simply keep moving.

Throughout the entire exercise, Stickie focuses on keeping her abdominals flat and spread out across her body.

If at any time she feels pain in her lower back, Stickie adjusts first by bending her legs rather than keeping them straight as she lifts and lowers.  If she still feels pain, she discontinues the exercise.  If she feels discomfort in her abs, of course, she keeps moving; that means the exercise is working!